How the Retcon That Saved Dallas' J.R. Ewing Was Retconned

[TMC]

https://www.cbr.com/dallas-retcon-jr-ewing-changed-cbs/

How J.R. Ewing survived Dallas' original 1991 cliffhanger finale was a mystery the 2012 revival complicated by ignoring an earlier explanation.

Premiering in the spring of 1978 as a five-part miniseries in advance of a proper season that fall, CBS' primetime soap opera Dallas was the story of the drama and infighting between oil magnate families the Ewings and Barnes, with star-crossed lovers Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) and Pamela Barnes (Victoria Principal) at its core. That is, until Larry Hagman's Machiavellian charmer J.R. Ewing became both its face and driving force. By the third season's cliffhanger finale, "A House Divided," and its follow up, "Who Done It" (better known as Who Shot J.R.?), Hagman, already known to TV audiences for I Dream of Jeannie, truly became Dallas' star.

At the close of Dallas' 14th and final season, J.R. lost control of Ewing Oil and burned nearly every possible bridge along the way, including with his own young son, John Ross. Despondent and suicidal in the series finale "Conundrum," J.R. was visited by Heavenly emissary Adam (Broadway star Joel Grey) and shown a glimpse of a world where he'd never been born, with Dallas' cast of characters alternately better or worse off in his absence. Their journey at an end, Adam urged J.R. to take his life. J.R. rebuked him, telling his guide he wouldn't get the satisfaction of his death before returning to Heaven, to which Adam questioned why J.R. ever assumed he was from there in the first place. Waking up and thinking the encounter an alcohol-induced dream, J.R. was confronted by a devilish Adam in his mirror, again spurring him on, with Bobby arriving just in time to hear a gunshot and express shock at the unseen sight. Thus ended the story of J.R. Ewing, at least for a few years.

Leaving its audience waiting with bated breath for a resolution, one eventually came in 1996's TV movie Dallas: J.R. Returns. Beginning, appropriately enough, with J.R.'s return to the family homestead, Southfork, after years abroad, no time was wasted in clearing up the finale's cliffhanger during the first reunion between brothers J.R. and Bobby. Despite J.R.'s efforts to avoid discussing it, Bobby recounted finding his older brother "babbling some nonsense about the devil," while holding a recently fired pistol in front of a shattered mirror.

With that bit of housekeeping out of the way, J.R. Returns and 1998's Dallas: War of the Ewings continued the series, J.R. ever the lovable schemer. While the first film garnered a strong 13.4 rating, its follow-up found only half the original's audience. In lieu of a third film, the cast gathered for a 2004 reunion special. Still, as a certified pop culture phenomenon it wouldn't be long until Dallas returned, and in 2011 production began on a new Dallas pilot for TNT, with a premiere in 2012.

Rather than simply rebooting the franchise, the decision was made to focus on the next generation of Ewings, with John Ross (All Rise's Josh Henderson) and Christopher Ewing (Jesse Metcalfe), adopted son of Bobby and Pamela, taking up their father's roles. As Christopher planned his wedding and Bobby decided to sell Southfork amid a cancer diagnosis in the pilot, J.R. was rotting away in a nursing home, a broken shell of himself. Word of Southfork's sale roused him back into action, and he returned to his old ways. Although the revival paid close attention to storylines and characters from the original run, longtime viewers spotted one sticking point of disconnect with the TV movies.

Resolving a number of Dallas' long term arcs, particularly the feud between the Ewings and Cliff Barnes, the choice was made to ignore the films in the revival. A fair creative decision -- and one Dallas had dabbled in after infamously ignoring an entire season during its original run -- but in doing so, the explanation of J.R.'s survival was lost, with the new series skipping past even the slightest mention of it. While it may have been dealt with down the line, Hagman's 2012 death saw the character written off the show -- fittingly in an arc referred to as Who Killed J.R.? -- so the matter went unaddressed.

Some measure of closure came via a post made on the series' official Facebook page in advance of the revival's premiere, written in character by J.R. and dated May 4th, 1991. Noting he "Got a little trigger happy with my revolver and shot a mirror" as a result of the rough patch he'd suffered, J.R. noted Bobby's concern but denied it was a cry for help. Later posts charting off-screen events throughout the 1990s and 2000s suggest J.R. opted to stay within the United States rather than travel to Europe, details that, as noted, were not mentioned in the series proper.

The June 13, 2012, premiere of TNT's Dallas became the highest-rated scripted program on cable television that week, however by the end of the third season it dropped to a third of that high, and half of the second season average. Ending on a cliffhanger involving the presumed demise of Christopher Ewing in an explosion, Dallas was canceled in 2014. In 2017 fellow iconic 1980s primetime soap Dynasty returned to television with a reboot for The CW network (currently restructuring amid its sale to media giant Nexstar). Whether this will be the next step for Dallas remains to be seen, but with a presence on the airwaves in some form or another for 45 years, it's simply a matter of time before J.R. returns, again.

[Mr. Television]

JR is dead and so is Dallas. The reboot sucked.